Intentions to Marry, 1918 Aria to Hunterville

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840477, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1918 is bound in six volumes (a to f) with continuous page numbers. Each volume contains a different set of districts, going from north to south.

1918c contains pages 865-1248, covering districts from Aria to Hunterville

Page 1099

District of Waipawa Quarter ending 31 March 1918 Registrar J. James

Date of Notice

Names and Surnames of Parties

BDM Match

Condition

Calling or Profession

Age

Dwelling Place

Length of Residence

Marriage Place

Folio

Consent

Date of Certificate

Officiating Minister

5 January 1918

Herbert Arthur Johnston
Annie Louisa Foulds

Herbert Arthur Johnston
Annie Louisa Foulds
💍 1918/1308

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

24
27

Argyll
Argyll

1 year
27 years

St Peters Church Waipawa

1096

5 January 1918

Rev M W Butterfield, Waipawa, Church of England

No	1
Date of Notice	5 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Arthur Johnston	Annie Louisa Foulds
	💍 1918/1308
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	24	27
Dwelling Place	Argyll	Argyll
Length of Residence	1 year	27 years
Marriage Place	St Peters Church Waipawa
Folio	1096
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev M W Butterfield, Waipawa, Church of England

22 January 1918

Victor Rory Johns
Alice Margaret Beatrice Butterfield

Victor Roy Johns
Alice Margretha Beatrice Butterfield
💍 1918/1309

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Teacher

28
22

Waipawa
Waipawa

1 day
2 months

St Peters Church Waipawa

1097

22 January 1918

Rev M W Butterfield, Waipawa, Church of England

No	2
Date of Notice	22 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Victor Rory Johns	Alice Margaret Beatrice Butterfield
BDM Match (93%)	Victor Roy Johns	Alice Margretha Beatrice Butterfield
	💍 1918/1309
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Teacher
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Waipawa	Waipawa
Length of Residence	1 day	2 months
Marriage Place	St Peters Church Waipawa
Folio	1097
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 January 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev M W Butterfield, Waipawa, Church of England

8 February 1918

James Gibson Heard
Alice Cameron Gunn

James Gibson Heard
Alice Cameron Gunn
💍 1918/1310

Widower 14/5/1913
Spinster

Shepherd
Domestic

44
33

Waipawa
Waipawa

3 days
4 days

Presbyterian Church Waipawa

1098

8 February 1918

Rev J W Robertson, Waipawa, Presbyterian

No	3
Date of Notice	8 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Gibson Heard	Alice Cameron Gunn
	💍 1918/1310
Condition	Widower 14/5/1913	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic
Age	44	33
Dwelling Place	Waipawa	Waipawa
Length of Residence	3 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Waipawa
Folio	1098
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev J W Robertson, Waipawa, Presbyterian

21 February 1918

Albert William Giles Dimock
Rosy Hansen

Albert William Giles Dimock
Rosy Hansen
💍 1918/1311

Bachelor
Spinster

Taxi Proprietor
Domestic

25
23

Waipawa
Waipawa

3 days
7 days

Methodist Church Waipawa

1099

21 February 1918

Rev C A Foston, Waipawa, Methodist

No	4
Date of Notice	21 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert William Giles Dimock	Rosy Hansen
	💍 1918/1311
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Taxi Proprietor	Domestic
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Waipawa	Waipawa
Length of Residence	3 days	7 days
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Waipawa
Folio	1099
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev C A Foston, Waipawa, Methodist

25 February 1918

Michael Thomas Downing
Margaret O'Connor

Michael Thomas Downing
Margaret O'Connor
💍 1918/623

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine Driver
Domestic

24
24

Waipawa
Waipawa

2 weeks
3 weeks

Roman Catholic Church Waipawa

1100

25 February 1918

Rev E J Bergin, Waipawa, Roman Catholic Priest

No	5
Date of Notice	25 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Thomas Downing	Margaret O'Connor
	💍 1918/623
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine Driver	Domestic
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Waipawa	Waipawa
Length of Residence	2 weeks	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Waipawa
Folio	1100
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 February 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev E J Bergin, Waipawa, Roman Catholic Priest

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

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What is an Intention to Marry?

The 1854 Marriage Act required Pakeha settlers (and later Maori) to register their intention to marry from 1855. The resulting Notices of intention to marry were sent by the district registrars to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages and bound into large volumes, each containing a year of notices. These registers were eventually deposited with Archives New Zealand.

What information does an ItM record?

A typical Intention to Marry notice records:

the bride and groom's full names
occupation of the groom (and sometimes the bride)
their ages
district where the marriage would take place
how long they had resided in the district
Where the marriage would take place (eg, a specific church)
Who would officiate the marriage (eg, a minister)
The date of the notice and also a date when the certificate was issued. Marriages had to take place within 3 months, and usually occurred within a week or so of the certificate date.
If one of the parties was under 21, a parent who consented to their marriage was usually specified

These details can provide clues for genealogical and historical research. Knowing the date and district makes it easier to look for wedding notices in Papers Past, and the amount of time that the parties had resided in a district can offer clues to whether a person was born in NZ, or when they immigrated.

However, finding individual records in the Intentions to Marry registers was typically a slow and manual process, usually requiring an in-person visit to Archives NZ's Wellington office (during limited opening hours) and using a handwritten card catalogue index to look up individual names.

Eight years of the registers had been digitised by Archives NZ prior to 2024, but even these digital versions required the use of a manual index and usually examining several pages to locate specific records.

What is the Intentions to Marry Project?

This project aims to transcribe the New Zealand Intentions to Marry registers (from 1855 to 1925) with the assistance of new technology (AI), making the records freely available and easily searchable.

The ITM records have also been cross-referenced with the registered marriages at DIA Births, Deaths and Marriages, where possible (a small fraction of the recorded intentions to marry did not become a registered marriage).

Currently we have almost all records between 1855 and 1908. More registers are being added almost every week.

The project is led by Luke Howison, a web developer who made the free genealogical research search tool NZ Ancestor Search Helper and Archway-style Collections Search. There are also some wonderful volunteers assisting with digitising the registers.

Can I volunteer to help?

Yes, you can! You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

I am also looking for Wellington-based volunteers to help me digitise more years of the registers. I can provide lighting equipment and a 'clicker' (to trigger your phone's camera).

How is the transcription done?

There are several steps to digitising and transcribing the records:

Digitising the registers (taking clean, straight, high-quality photos)
Processing the digitised pages by straightening, cropping and sharpening the images
Transcribing each page with a combination of AI tools
Matching each ITM with a registered marriage when possible
Human verification of the transcribed information

The main LLM (AI) used are the Google Gemini Pro and Flash models, which have excellent 'Vision' capabilities, and a generous free tier.

Archives NZ has released the register years they have digitised (1865-69, 1872, 1874 and 1880) under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

The Intention to Marry registers (up to 1925) are more than 100 years old, so their Crown Copyright has expired, putting them in the public domain. This also applies to any 'mechanical reproductions' (eg, pictures or photocopies) of their content without substantial alteration.

The transcribed records on this website are released under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal license, which allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, even for commercial purposes, while giving credit to the creator (NZ Intentions to Marry Project).